Etymologically
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circumpono

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kɪr.kʊmˈpoː.noː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [t͡ʃir.kumˈpɔː.no][1]

Forms

circumpōnō (present infinitive circumpōnere, perfect active circumposuī or circumposīvī, supine circumpositum or circumpostum); third conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin circum- (“around”) + pōnō (“to put, place”).[2][1][3] De Vaan explains pōnō as a compound, Proto-Italic *po-sine/o-, “to put down”, with the verb sinō (“to let”); its old perfect was ⟨-posīvī⟩, and ⟨posuī⟩ was formed later.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL's first example is from Cato's book on farming, stramenta circumponito, “put straw around”.[3]

Semantic evolution

It means to place all round something,[2] of things in Cato, Lucretius, Celsus, who has splints placed round bones, and Pliny the Elder,[3][5] and of armed men in Suetonius.[5][6] With a dative it means to place near or on either side of: Tacitus writes of a grove quod nāvālī stagnō circumposuit Augustus, “which Augustus planted round the naval basin”,[7][3] and of two men seated on either side of a curule chair.[2][6] It is also used of putting a round object on, as a diadem in Fronto's letters.[2][3] Horace uses it of setting pepper out in little dishes.[6][7] In the Vulgate a gold chain is put around a neck, collō torquem auream circumposuit.[3][6] The neuter plural participle circumposita means the surrounding country.[6][3]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of straw put round plants.[3][8]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of the surrounding air.[3][8]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of pepper in little dishes.[6][7][8]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus has it with a dative.[2][7][8]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate has collō torquem auream circumposuit.[3][6][8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To place all round, set or put around.[2][5][1]
  2. (with a dative) To place near or on either side of.[2][6]
  3. To put (a round object such as a diadem) on.[2][6]
  4. To set out (food) on the table.[6][7]

Word family

  • circumpositio

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de